15.11.2011

For the period June - November 2011, 9 contracts have been concluded amounting to almost BGN 31 million, 41 projects under 4 procedures have been approved totalling BGN 21,063,205 whose contracting is pending. By the end of November 2011 the evaluation under all opened procedures will be finalized. It is expected that by the end of the year new 19 contracts will be signed totalling over BGN 17 million and focused on the judicial bodies. Thus the amount of the funds contracted under OPAC for the second half of 2011 will be over BGN 69 million.

This became clear during the Ninth Meeting of the OPAC Monitoring Committee held on 10-11 November in Velingrad.

Amendments to the 2011 Indicative Annual Working Programme as well as the 2012 Indicative Annual Working Programme were adopted during the meeting. The aim is to contract and absorb as soon as possible and effectively the funds planned under the Programme while not losing any lev when applying the N+2, N+3 rule. There is no such risk for 2012, as the funds planned for next year will be over-contracted. At the meeting it has been decided to include the Ministry of Finance and the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria as direct beneficiaries under the Programme.

OPAC can boast an ambitious start and that must continue because this is provided for in the Europe 2020 Strategy; the reform in the public administration and in the judicial system should not stop. OPAC is one of the main sources for financing this reform and therefore the planning of the next programming period must start, said Mr. Phillipe Hatt, Head of Romania, Bulgaria, Malta Unit, GD \"Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion\", European Commission. He welcomed the progress of OPAC and expressed his conviction that thanks to the simplified application procedures, the shorter evaluation timeframes and the accelerated expenditure verification process Bulgaria would be able to absorb more EU funds.

The procedures to be opened until the end of 2011 are, as follows:

• „Competent judicial system and effective human resource management\" (sub-priority 2.4.) - by 14 November 2011;
• „Effective Coordination and Partnership in Policy Making and Implementation\" (sub-priority 1.3.) - by 30 November 2011;
• „ Transparent and Effective Judicial System\" (sub-priority 1.5.) - by 30 November 2011;
• „ Competent and Effective State Administration\" (sub-priority 2.2.) - by 6 January 2012;
• „Competent judicial system and effective human resource management\" (sub-priority 2.4.) - by 6 January 2012.

Deputy Minister of Transport Valeri Borisov, Secretary of the E-Government Council and Ms Liliya Uleva, Secretary of the Administrative Reform Council under the Council of Ministers made presentations of OPAC projects. One of OPAC major projects managed by the MTITC foresees electronic identification of citizens and businesses, simplified e-government legislation, compatibility of the IT systems of all administrations and setting up a link between all electronic registers in the state.

Three successful OPAC funded projects were presented during the meeting and a documentary thereof was shown.